Several qualified selections for the African Cup of Nations have been affected by the virus and have had to cancel friendly matches before the kickoff in Cameroon.
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While he has to meet, this Thursday, January 6, President Adama Barrow for the removal of the Gambian flag, Tom Saintfiet strives to stay calm before joining Cameroon Friday, two days before the kickoff of The African Cup of Nations (CAN). The coach of Scorpions, who will participate for the first time at the continental tournament, had decided to carry out the preparation internship in Doha in order to benefit from the quality of the infrastructure of the country that will organize the 2022 World Cup. But the Gambian stay at Qatar turned to the nightmare, as the Belgian technician in the world tells him.
Two friendly games, against Algeria Saturday and Syria on Wednesday, had to be canceled because of the unavailability of 16 gambian players on 28. In addition to injury and travel restrictions affecting certain footballers in Europe by their Clubs, several members of the workforce have been achieved by COVID-19 while “almost everyone is vaccinated,” says Tom Saintfiet: “For example, one of my deputies was contaminated when he had received his Three doses. For the duration of the internship, I could not work normally with the players. At certain sessions, there were only twelve of available. “
Displacement restrictions
The COVID-19 epidemic has had consequences for many teams participating in the CAN. Thus, several friendly games have been canceled, often at the last moment, like the one who had to oppose Monday in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) Côte d’Ivoire to the Comoros, several players of the two selections having been tested positive. Gabon and Mauritania, for their part, learned late that they could not confront Uganda in the United Arab Emirates on December 30 and January 2. “We were informed two days before the Ugandans could not travel because of the restrictions on the health context. Fortunately, we were able to arrange a match against Burkina Faso on the same date,” says Patrice Neveu, the coach French Gabonese panthers.
Senegal shifted from Wednesday to Thursday his departure for Cameroon after the discovery of at least three cases in his workforce (Habib Diallo, Saliou Ciss and Mamadou Loum Ndiaye). Nigeria recorded Victor Osimhen’s package, his best attacker, while Tunisia, private Youssef Msakni and Seifeddine Jaziri, annulled in extremis his friendly match against Sierra Leone on Friday. And Cape Verde has just announced, three days from the match against Ethiopia, which three of its players (Marco Soares, Lisandro Semeledo and Willis Furtado) as well as his coach, Pedro Leitao Brito, are positive at CVIV-19 .
On the Cameroonian side, four players (Kunde Pierre, Michael Ngadeu, Christian Bassogog and Jean Efala) contracted the virus but were able to resume training after a quarantine period. Algeria, title African champion, has not been spared since Youcef Bellail, Houcine Benayada and Mohamed Amine Tougaï have been infected. “It is assumed that other selections have been affected but that they preferred not to communicate,” says an agent organizer of friendly matches.
A strict health protocol
To avoid a flight of contamination at the time of competition, Cameroon and the African Football Confederation (CAF) have developed a very strict health protocol. People who want to attend a match will not only be vaccinated, but also provide a PCR test from less than forty-eight hours before the kickoff. The CAF also decided that stages can not be filled beyond 80% for Cameroonian team matches and 60% for others.
Despite the multiplication of cases and the chagrin of certain coaches, the Caf refuses that the lists of the selected players for the CAN, closed on December 30, can be modified. “It is deplorable: the CAF and FIFA protect European clubs by giving them derogations to release the players later, but we do not respect the work of the selections. Some will not be able to replace their players affected by the Covid-19 “, Tom Saintfiet, who, on the social networks of the Gambian Federation, did not hesitate to speak of a” catastrophe “.